“The nice part is you get fresh fruits and vegetables all the time,” Christine Saward said.Abby Baker
George Zarillo squints in the sun, holding an oversized papaya and rocking an army-green sun hat. He’s exactly what you expect of the organizer of the Gulfport Community Garden.
“Probably half of what I eat comes from here,” Zarillo said, still clutching the papaya.
The garden that grows out of 5125 Preston Ave. S. doesn’t have a lot of rules. Unlike similar community gardens, gardeners there don’t have to prove Gulfport residency. When it opened in 2009, the garden charged a fee to use the community beds. Today, there’s no restrictions. People can garden and harvest for free, with no requirement to clock a certain number of hours. The gates open twice a week (Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m.) to anyone.
They work till they’re done, and, so far, it works.
George Zarillo oversees the Gulfport Community Garden alongside a sea of volunteers.Abby Baker
“I guess you could say we’re minimalists,” Zarillo said.
Each week the garden bears fruits, spinach, and herbs that gardeners can take home. The fresh fruits and vegetables that don’t make it into the volunteers reusable totes get donated to the Gulfport Senior Center Food Pantry.
According to Zarillo, the garden donates hundreds of pounds each year.
Gulfport resident Diane Tomain has tended the garden for the last six years. For her, it’s an escape.
“It’s my way of meditation,” Tomain said. “Instead of going to church I go to the garden. I guess I like playing in the dirt.”
The City of Gulfport owns the lot and leases it for free, on the condition that the garden club pays its water bill.
Gardeners fundraise to pay that bill, as well as for supplies and other gardening costs.
Want to help? Find them on Go Fund Me.
Whatever gardeners don’t haul home, the garden donates to the Gulfport Senior Center Food Pantry.Abby Baker
